21-4 XLI. RHAMXACE^. 



Stamens 4-5; filaments very short. Ovary free, ovoid, 3-4-celled, 

 attenuated into a 3-4-fid style ; stigmas obtuse, papillose. Fruit a 

 berry-like drupe, obloug or globose, girt at the base by the small calyx- 

 tube; pyrenes 2-4, dehiscent or indohiscent, 1 -seeded. Seeds obovoid ; 

 testa membranous or crustaceous ; albumen fleshy ; cotyledons flat, 

 recurved at the margins ; radicle short. — Distrib. Warm and temperate 

 regions of both hemispheres ; species about 60. 



1. Rhamnus "Wightii, Wight ^ Am. Prodr. (1834) p. 164. A 

 large glabrous, unarmed shrub. Leaves alternate (rarely a few sub- 

 opposite), 2^-4 by g-lg in., ovate-oblong, acuminate, finely serrate, 

 glabrous, base rounded or subacute ; petioles |-|^ in. long, puberulous. 

 Flowers iti axillary fascicles, or in fascicles along an elongate, axillary 

 rhachis ; pedicels shorter than the petioles. Calyx pubescent outside, 

 cleft about half way down ; lobes triangular, keeled on the inner face. 

 Petals minute, lanceolate, flat. Stamens 5. Ovary 3- or 4-celled ; 

 styles 3 or 4, connate half way up. Berry ^ in. in diam., globose, 

 supported by the persistent calyx and tipped with the remains of the 

 styles, smooth, reddish-purple when ripe. FI. B. I. v. 1, p. 639 ; Dalz. 

 &'Gibs. p. 50 ; Trim. Fl. Ceyl. v. 1, p. 283; Talb. Trees, Bomb. p. 52 ; 

 Watt, Diet. Econ. Prod. v. 6, part 1, p. 442. — Vern". Eagt-roda. 



Eare. Found only on the highest hills of the Northern Glwts {Balzell ^ Gibson). 

 There is one speoinien in Herb. Kew. from DalzeJl (!) from Hewra botanical garden, 

 but no specimen from a plant truly wild. Mr. Woodrow informs me that bo has 

 searched for the plant himself and sent collectors to search for it, but has failed to find 

 it. — DisiRiB. India (W. Peninsula) ; Ceylon. 



lOiamnus triqueter. Laws, in Hook. f. Fl. B. I. v. 1 (1875) p. 639, 

 has been found by N. B. Eanade, late herbarium-keeper in the College 

 of Science, Poona, on the hill fort of Kori about 12 miles S. of Lanoli. 

 It has also been found at the hill fort of Purandhar about 25 miles 

 from Poona. The plant is a native of the Western Himalaya and the 

 Salt range in the Panjab, and has not been found wild in Western 

 or Southern India. It seems highly probable that the ancestors of the 

 ])!anls in the two Deccan hill forts were introduced, perhaps as medicinal 

 plants. Mr. Woodrow informs me that they were abundant on the 

 highest parts of the walls of the Kori fort. 



4. SCUTIA, Cummers. 

 Glabrous shrubs, spinous or unarmed ; branches often angular. Leaves 

 opposite or subopposite, coriaceous, peniiitierved. Flowers hermaphro- 

 dite, in axillary fascicles, or subumbellate. Calyx 5-fid ; tube hemi- 

 spheric or turbinate ; lobes ovate, acute, thickened at the apex. Petals 5, 

 clawed, erect, flat or cucuUate. Disk filling the calyx-tube, the margin 

 free, undulate. Stamens 5, as long as the petals, free. Ovary ovoid or 

 globose, immersed in the disk, free, 2-4-celled, narrowed into a short 

 2-3-fid style ; stigmas obtuse, papillose. Fruit obovoid or subglobose, 

 dry or slightly fleshy, girt at the base by the persistent calyx-tube ; 

 pyrenes 2-4, crustaceous, angular or compressed. Seeds compressed ; 

 testa membranous ; alhiunen or thin. — Histuib. Asia, Africa and 

 Tro]>ical America ; species 8. 



1. Scutia indica, Brongn. in Aiui. Sc. Knt. ser. 1, v. 10 (1827) p. 363, 

 A straggling shrub, sometimes scandent; branches often decussate, armed 



